There are many “emission-detection” imaging techniques known in the art based on photon diffusion, such as bioluminescent imaging. However, typical bioluminescent imaging techniques are generally limited to the projective/planar mode. Therefore, three-dimensional structures and localization of an internal light emitting source, such as a bioluminescent source, cannot be resolved in 3D space and time with high quantitative accuracy.
It would therefore be desirable to combine an optical imaging technique, such as a light-emitting source imaging technique, specifically bioluminescence imaging, with one or more independent imaging techniques, such as diffuse optical tomography (DOT), CT/MRI, that allows the evaluation of two and three dimensional anatomical/optical information, to produce a light-emitting source image in 3D space and time.